After breakfast and spending hours with his wife, Bruce decided to stop by at work. He went up to his floor and the secretary stood up to receive him.

"Good evening, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce smiled. "Evening. Where's Lucius?"

"Mr. Fox is in a conference. Would you like me to..."

Bruce waved it off. "No need. Let him continue. I'll take the notes later."

"Of course, sir. Anything I can get you?"

"Uh, forward me the yearly analytics, thank you..." he paused, thinking of her name.

"Danielle," the secretary reminded him.

"Danielle," Bruce repeated. "What happened to Jessica?"

"She moved to Germany with her partner."

"Oh, good for her. Did we..."

"Send her a farewell package? Yes sir." 

Bruce smiled in appreciation of her filling in his words. "Thank you. I'll be in the office, then." He left and entered his office. He pulled back his chair and took his time sitting in, reacclimatizing with his own room. Danielle sent him the files he'd asked and he reviewed his business activities he'd missed in his stupor. While he rearranged calendars for meetings, Bruce recalled someone else he wanted to contact.

"Jack!" Bruce said loudly as the phone picked up. "How're you doing? It's Bruce Wayne."

"Mr. Wayne! Glad you could make it to our exhibit."

"Oh, I doubt you were too happy about that. Listen, I wanted to apologise for being such a crap guest the other day. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you..."

"Ah, new day, new memories. But since you've kindly offered..."

"Anything," Bruce agreed already.

"I'm taking the missus on a cruise next week. Kinda been neglecting her lately. It's a couples' retreat so, can't take the kiddo..."

Bruce froze while waiting the words he expected to hear. He didn't have a good track record with kids recently.

"Can you do it, Bruce? Take on Tim for the next two weeks?"

"Ye-yeah," Bruce cleared his throat. "I'm sure it'll be no trouble at all. Let me just let my wife know, then I'll give you a call back."

"Much appreciated, Bruce. And say, if you two ever need a babysitter in the future..."

"Haha. I'll have you on speed dial, Jack. I'll call you back tonight," Bruce was eager to hang up.

"Sounds good. Love to the family. Bye."

"Bye," Bruce said and couldn't hang the phone up quicker. The air in his office seemed to get thicker and he pulled on his collar. He got off his chair and decided to walk, clear his head of the dark words and pictures. Two days ago he would have trashed the place, but hours ago he'd decided to be a changed man. Still, his blood was boiling, and his effort to keep the anger at bay was suffocating him.

Bruce grasped the back of a guest chair, making sure to keep himself away from anything throwable. He dug his fingers into the unfortunate leather, pressing the furniture down in contrast to his urge to fling it at the glass wall. He leaned his whole weight on it, struggling with his impulses till he was almost on his knees.

"Water?"

Bruce flinched at somebody being near him, standing upright to face Lucius.

"Alfred said you'd be coming in today. Thought I'd keep an eye out for you," he said as he extended the glass he'd offered.

"Thanks," Bruce said and took the water, downing it in one go before he walked over to the filter to get himself a refill.

"What was the conference about?" Bruce diverted to business.

"One of the subsidiaries were falling behind on their agendas and I was meeting with heads to talk about their game plans," Lucius filled him in.

"Thank you, for covering for me, Lucius."

"Any time, Mr. Wayne. We'd just all like to see you getting better."

Bruce smiled and went back to his desk. "How's our... other business?"

While Batman had been extremely busy in the past few years, he'd neglected all help from any kind, pushing away his friends. Something he planned on fixing.

"I've been... busy with that, too," Lucius suggested with a smile on his face.

Bruce was curious. "Oh have you, now?"

"Yes. I think your cousin's crawled up on you since you've been gone."

"Mm!" Bruce frowned playfully. "Can't have that happening, now can we?"

Lucius laughed. "I can give you a tour on a better day."

"I'd like that. Tell me about this drop here..." Bruce pulled up the appropriate file and the two men got back to their day jobs.

"Now, if you keep pressing the pedal, you're going to end up dropping the chain and it's gonna jam right back up," the cousin was explaining maintenance to her customer.

The Waynes or the Kanes didn't need to get off their butts to get money, but Kate didn't see herself as a freeloader, or a businesswoman, for that matter. So, she invested her free time compiling her interests and created vehicle repair shops in low income neighborhoods.

Kate wiped her grease-streaked hands on her oil-stained apron as she stood up from fixing the bike. She had just finished explaining to a customer and his father on how to properly maintain his vehicle for the next time it needed attention. As Mark thanked her and drove off, another customer entered the bustling garage.

As Kate watched them speed off, another customer caught her attention. The poor girl looked like Dorothy in Oz, so out of her league. Kate smiled and popped up behind her. "Anything I can get you?"

Maggie jumped at the sound coming from right behind her. "Jesus! Oh, um, hi!"

"Hi," Kate replied. "So what brings you to my shop?"

"Th-this is your shop?" Maggie asked, looking around.

Kate looked around proudly. "Yup. All mine. Well, and the locals I hire. But anyway, you got car trouble?"

"Yeah! Yes, I mean, definitely," Maggie walked out to the tow truck which had brought in a car. "My brakes failed. Can't really do anything without a car, really."

"True. Yeah, why don't you go ahead and wait in the office and I'll have your car pulled in," Kate ushered her guest to the office.

"Sounds good, thanks," Maggie smiled and walked herself to the office while Kate had the car hauled into the garage.

Maggie felt awkward sitting by herself so decided to pace the office while Kate took a look at the car. She lifted her head, trying to catch sight of the mechanic as she slid under the car. Kate's shirt slid up as she was working, and Maggie couldn't help but marvel at the woman's body. She was lean and toned, and that didn't really offer any cover to her wounds and bruises. The creeper was sliding out and Maggie quickly found herself a seat, embarrassed at having ogled.

Kate went ahead and gave the car a cursory look before she called over a few of her employees to work on the car. She wiped her hands on her rag, removing most of the dirt and oils before she went into the office.

"Oh, yeah! They're failed, alright. And then some," Kate exclaimed as she led herself to the sink to properly washed her hands.

"That bad?" Maggie asked as she leaned to the side to watch Kate properly wash her hands, the tendons of her bare arms pulling and flexing visibly.

"Well, at least it makes for a good practice project," Kate complimented. "Where were you when you stalled?"

"On my way to work," Maggie quietly revealed, and Kate was shocked.

"Really? And you didn't freak?" Kate thought back on the time that she had saved Maggie from that old bar. She looked cute trying to be brave.

"Well, I was just in the neighborhood main street, so I didn't get far," Maggie added.

"Well, glad you were in a good spot. But your car needed to come in earlier," Kate told her. "You're not exactly short on money, Miss Kyle," Kate teased her.

Maggie still used Hathaway as her legal name, so Kate's using of her birth name was more likely in reference to her sister, who was married to one of the richest men in the world.

"No, no. Money's not an issue, of course. I just, haven't found the time."

"Well, it's like you said, when you don't give yourself a break, your body will take one for you," Kate remembered.

"Exactly. And looks like my car's got you. When do I get you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're treating my car, so guess I have to treat you!"

Kate giggled. "Sure."